


The Heart Of The Forest

by Elle_chama



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Druids, Elemental Magic, F/M, Fantasy, Medieval Medicine, Nymphs & Dryads, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-06 12:44:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15886323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elle_chama/pseuds/Elle_chama
Summary: Everybody knows. The forest is forbidden. The forest is enchanted. The forest is evil. Those who enter, they never return. The forest is a place to be avoided. The forest is a grave.Brian learned. The forest is alive. The forest is magical. The forest is friendly. Those who respect nature, they never get lost. The forest is a place to be loved. The forest is home.





	The Heart Of The Forest

 

 

 

(¯`*•.¸,¤°´✿.｡.:* "♥" *.:｡.✿`°¤,¸.•*´¯)

 

It felt damp in the forest. It was hot and suffocating. Brian's whole body was crying out for him to stop, for him to rest on any of those tree roots for just a little while. Nevertheless, Brian had no choice but to keep walking.  
Every time he hesitated, even for a second, a sword pommel would hit his back. The impact pushed him forward. Every time he stumbled, he would use every remain of strength left in him not to fall, face first, on the ground. It was quite a hard task because his arms were tied backward. He was a dog on a leash. No. He was a cow taken to the slaughterhouse.  
At one point Brian's vision blurred, he felt ready to faint. He stumbled and fell. First, it was the pain of hitting the ground. Then it was the pain of being roughly pulled back on his feet. But the point was: they had stopped.  
The guards loosened the ropes, setting him free. Then a guard pushed him forward. Another stumble. From the ground, Brian looked up. They had arrived at the opening of his grave.  
Up ahead, there were ropes with tassels and bells tied around two trees. The slightest breeze would make them sing. That was the point of no return. Any man that has ever crossed those trees had never returned alive. Usually, their remains would be found at the entry of the forest as a warning: no trespassing, no harming the trees, no hunting the animals. The cost was their life.  
Brian looked back. The guards were defiantly looking at him, swords and archery equipment set ready to either kill Brian or try to kill whatever the forest would use against them.  
"Are you expecting a formal invitation?" A guard sneered.  
Brian just wanted to cry, get on his knees and plead for his life. Instead, he gulped down his tears, with scared steps he moved further into the forest. His heart was beating erratically. He remembered the stories about those woods. Hunters and lumberers were found dead, their bodies embedded into the trees, rocks or the soil. Their face contorted in horror. Brian kept imagining monstrous beings coming out of the tree trunks to eat him alive.  
After crossing the trees, Brian kept looking around, each leaf moving scared him. He looked backward with all the intention to plead for mercy. To his surprise, he saw no-one. The guards had disappeared.  
Brian looked around for any sign of those three men that had escorted him to his grave. At not seeing anything he walked back.  
Maybe he could get back to the village, rescue his sister and flee to another village, somewhere else where they were not known. But he had only taken one step for an arrow to hit his shoulder. It came from nowhere. It hit right at the bones in the junction. There were blood and pain. Brian lost his balance falling backward on the ground.  
He had crossed the point of no return. He was already dead.  
Looking up at the trees, Brian saw something move. But it was not a forest fiend. It was a bird, a nightingale. Was it his friend? It started to sing his requiem, melodically and sadly. Brian closed his eyes with a small smile. Music. He was dying while listening to such pure music. Brian felt his senses slipping away with every note. It didn't take long for him to black out completely.  
A few feet away, at the other side of the trees, the guards were still there, still watching to make sure Brian would die. They had seen Brian's confusion. When he tried to come back, the archer shot in warning, telling him to keep walking deeper into the forest. They had also heard the nightingale.  
What happened next had never been told in any story about the forest.  
The bird flew down, settling on Brian's chest. It stopped singing.  
The guards stood there, watching, expecting the bird to turn into a monster and eat Brian. But the little bird turned around and looked at the guards. Seconds later it opened its wings and flew towards them. When it passed by the marked trees, a transformation occurred. But the bird didn't turn into a monster.  
The guards stepped back, pointing their weapons at a bird shapeshifted into a human with shoulder length messy blond hair, chocolate eyes, hidden in a long brown coat with a brown feathered collar.  
"This is new," The blond woman spoke in a low tone. Her voice deep, sounding angry or most probably offended. "You come here to kill the trees and the animals. You come here to destroy. But never I had seen you come to the forest to kill another human being. Never this forest had witnessed such harm to an innocent soul. Your insolence has overcome all limits. Go back to your chief and warn him: the forest is not his domain. It is not his prison, torture chambers or his personal slaughterhouse. The forest has rules of its own. It has trials of its own. In here, innocent lives will not be sacrificed."  
As the woman spoke, something seemed to change. Tree roots sprout from the ground around the archer's feet. They quickly climbed his body, imprisoning him, fusing itself with his body and taking up his blood as payment for the offense. At seeing that, the other guards shouted in horror and ran away, back to the village, back to where the village head was waiting for the news of his offender dying in a horrible way.  
A new horror story started that day for the citizens of that country.  
For Brian, that story, though, was of love.

  

(¯`*•.¸,¤°´✿.｡.:* "♥" *.:｡.✿`°¤,¸.•*´¯)

 

 

Brian woke up to a scorching pain on his shoulder. It seemed like his wound was on fire. With his vision blurred by tears, he looked at it. To his surprise, the arrow was gone. His wound was treated and patched. Looking around, he saw the marked trees. With horror, he looked at that particular tree. It was like the archer's face had been carved in the tree. It was decayed as if days had passed.  
A wave of fear made Brian shut his eyes and curl in himself. The movement made his wound ache again. The burn sensation spread over his body.  
"Don't move." Someone told him, kindly.  
Brian looked up. Searching for who owned that soothing calm voice. Brian found himself in front of what could only be a forest fiend. But such a being has never been described in any story. Such a gentle smile. Such merciful eyes. Such beautiful features.  
The blond woman crouched beside him to inspect the wound.  
"Don't move just yet. You have broken bones. I need to immobilize your arm, or you might never be able to move it again."  
Brian lowered his eyes. What was the point of moving his arm? What was the point of still being alive?  
"... So your sister will find the strength to live as well." The forest fiend replied to Brian's thoughts.  
His confused stare made the blond woman smile.  
"Quite often, you tend to voice your thoughts." The woman added.  
"Do you know me?" Brian asked. His heartbeat accelerated.  
Why would a forest fiend know his habits?  
"I do know you. You can say we've been friends for quite a while." the blond replied. Right after she shape-shifted into a nightingale. Moving to Brian's knee, she started to sing.  
Brian was completely dumbfounded. It was true. Since spring, a nightingale was always around. That winter Brian's parents had died of a strange disease. Having no money to buy food, Brian had sneaked into the forest in search of edible mushrooms and fruits. His younger sister would often follow him. The siblings would sing while searching. One day a nightingale joined them.  
The bird flew back to the ground. A second later it shifted again into a human.  
"What happened? Why did your people come here to dishonor the forest?" The blond asked. The worry was clear, but Brian didn't notice.  
The injured male kept mute. Brian shut his eyes, breathing deeply. He built up courage, then looked back at the terrifying tree. That should be him. He should be dead.  
The blond put herself in between, forcing Brian to look at her. "What happened?"  
Tears stained Brian's face. "Kill me..." The blond frowned at hearing the request. "I must die… they need to see me dead… or she will die."  
The confused frown turned angry. Quickly the blond shapeshifted again, the next second she flew away. Brian closed his eyes, his silent tears turned into a convulsion of tears and pleas for the forest to kill him. For the forest to save his sister.

 

 

(¯`*•.¸,¤°´✿.｡.:* "♥" *.:｡.✿`°¤,¸.•*´¯)

 

 

Reaching the end of the forest, the nightingale swiftly flew into the city. Desperately searching for a familiar face. The humans were rushing to a commonplace, the center of their village made of death and stone. There she found her familiar face, beaten and weak, much thinner than the last time she had seen her. She was being tied to a pole, touched indecently while being so.  
Peasants were murmuring, some in fear, some in disdain.  
"I had been merciful, giving your brother the blessing of dying alone and allowing you to live. But he was a monster from the forest, and so are you. For not dying as I wished, I will withdraw my mercy. You will be his punishment," A man spoke, dressed in finer clothes, mounted on a horse. "Do whatever you want with this girl! Once she is dead, throw her in the forest! Let her brother find her remains."  
She was scared, she was crying. Begging for them not to do any of that. Humans only knew how to seek death.  
A man approached her, then another, and another. All smiling while she closed her eyes in fear. But she was the only one that shouldn't fear. The moment she was touched there was a scream. The man quickly withdrew his hand, it was bleeding, torn apart by thorns. The second man tried his luck, receiving the same punishment. The third man was not as courageous.  
Another cry from the first man made others focus on him, on his hands. The thorns started to grow, to ramify and spread over his arm, his chest, his whole body. Pain. Whoever dared to touch her with ill intentions would die in great pain.  
"She's a monster just like her brother!" A guard shouted it was one that had taken Brian into the forest. The recognition and the terror on his face made it clear. He rushed to a nearby guard that was carrying a torch. Stealing it away, he rushed to her. Fire was not a good choice.  
The flames had touched her shredded clothes and wounded skin, but she didn't feel it, it didn't burn her, it didn't hurt her. Oh, but the guard saw the flame dance, like a living snake it crawled over his arm, burning his clothes and flesh. His terrified scream made people run, afraid to be cursed as well.  
The nobleman was next. Seeing the fire, the horse panicked, trying to find distance from the fire it threw his master on the ground, face first. The horse stepped over him offering instant death. Whoever was left watching the show finally fled.  
The crying girl was still scared, but she was not alone.  
There was someone, a man as young as Brian, had run to her instead of fleeing. When he touched her, he didn't cry out of pain and agony. He smiled reassuringly. She cried again but out of relief, maybe? The nightingale was not so sure. But the young man freed her, he put her on his back and carried her away. The nightingale was glad to see someone not being affected by her spell.  
The nightingale followed, overwatching. She felt pleased when she saw the young man had taken her friend into the forest, repeating over and over a promise. "We will find your brother."  
A chirp of a bird made the girl ask for him to stop. She recognized her nightingale friend.  
"It's no time to play with birds." he countered, anxious, scared for being inside that terrifying forest.  
But he didn't take any step further because the nightingale shapeshifted into the human form of a blond woman.  
"I do not know your heart. She is a friend of the forest, but you are not." The blond said.  
The girl started to cry again. Understanding why the forest had spared Brian, why she was magically protected. She believed in the forest, she was overjoyed at seeing that the forest had heard her prayers and rescued them both.  
"Did you save him? Did you save me?" she asked amidst her sobs, her relief, her heart knew but her head had to make sure.  
The blond nodded with a smile. "Do you vouch for him?" The blond asked pointing at the young man who was still carrying her, positioned as if he would rather give his life if it meant saving hers.  
She nodded unable of words.  
"Follow me." The blond invited, leading the path further into the forest.

 

 

(¯`*•.¸,¤°´✿.｡.:* "♥" *.:｡.✿`°¤,¸.•*´¯)


End file.
